The New York Yankees return to Tropicana Field in first place in the AL East with a record of 28-18 and they hold a 4 game lead over the Rays (24-22). They visited St. Petersburg on April 22nd through 24th and the Rays took 2 out of 3.
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The New York Yankees return to Tropicana Field in first place in the AL East with a record of 28-18 and they hold a 4 game lead over the Rays (24-22). They visited St. Petersburg on April 22nd through 24th and the Rays took 2 out of 3.
In the first game of the series Matt Moore delivered 8 strong innings allowing only 1R/ER on 2 hits striking out 9 and walking 3. Ryan Roberts had 2 homers and Yunel Escobar added another as the Rays defeated C.C. Sabathia 5-1.
In the second game David Price delivered his best performance of the season but the offense was unable to take advantage against Phil Hughes and the Yankees scored 2-runs in the 8th inning to take a 4-2 lead. Evan Longoria hit a home run off Mariano Rivera in the 9th to draw the Rays to within a run but the Rays were unable to come back and lost 4-3.
The final game of the series matched Alex Cobb against Andy Pettitte and the game remained scoreless through 4 innings before the Rays added 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th and a single run in the bottom of the 6th. Alex Cobb absolutely dominated the Yankees going 8.1 shutout innings allowing 3 hits striking out 7 and walking 1 and the Rays won 3-0.
The pitching matchups for the weekend are as follows: David Phelps (2-2, 3.83 ERA) vs Roberto Hernandez (2-4, 5.24 ERA) on Friday at 7:10 p.m., Matt Moore (8-0, 2.29 ERA) vs Vidal Nuno (1-1, 1.13 ERA) on Saturday at 4:10 p.m., and Alex Cobb (5-2, 2.73 ERA) vs C.C. Sabathia (4-3, 3.43 ERA) on Sunday at 1:40 pm..
Since the two teams last met Curtis Granderson has returned to the Yankees, Reid Brignac has been acquired, and David Adams and Austin Romine have joined the team from Triple A. The injuries keep coming as Kevin Youkils, Eduardo Nunez, Francisco Cervelli, Joba Chamberlain, Andy Pettitte, and Ivan Nova have joined Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Michael Pineda on the disabled list.
Teixeira and Youkilis each had 6 plate appearances in a simulated game on Wednesday afternoon and are are inching closer to beginning rehab assignments. Another player of interest who may be getting close to returning to action is Michael Pineda who may begin a rehab assignment after one more appearance in extended spring training.
The Yankees are winning with their pitching. Despite being 4th in the AL in homers with 58 their offense has struggled averaging only 4.24 runs per game and a 93 wRC+ and a wOBA of .314. The inability to score runs has led to 24 of their 46 games being decided by 2 runs or less and they have gone 17-7 in those games. They are 8-4 in one run games which is 3rd in the majors behind Cleveland (11-3) and Texas (9-4). They won their first 19 games when scoring first before losing to the Orioles Tuesday evening.
The table below shows the Yankees hitters performance in the month of May.
Name
PA
AVG
OBP
SLG
HR
RBI
SB
wOBA
wRC+
David Adams
27
0.308
0.333
0.615
2
3
0
0.405
154
Lyle Overbay
75
0.261
0.307
0.493
3
13
0
0.341
111
Vernon Wells
78
0.270
0.308
0.459
4
11
2
0.328
102
Curtis Granderson
28
0.269
0.321
0.423
1
1
1
0.326
101
Robinson Cano
84
0.238
0.274
0.500
6
16
1
0.322
98
Brett Gardner
77
0.257
0.325
0.371
0
4
7
0.308
88
Travis Hafner
52
0.200
0.308
0.356
2
7
1
0.299
82
Chris Stewart
40
0.235
0.282
0.412
2
4
1
0.296
81
Jayson Nix
65
0.226
0.338
0.283
0
4
2
0.281
70
Ichiro Suzuki
66
0.206
0.231
0.333
1
3
3
0.238
41
Chris Nelson
37
0.222
0.243
0.278
0
2
0
0.23
36
Austin Romine
29
0.143
0.143
0.214
0
2
0
0.153
-16
The Yankees bullpen includes: Mariano Rivera (17 saves), David Robertson, Boone Logan (LHP), Adam Warren, Shawn Kelley, Preston Claiborne, and Dellin Betances.
David Phelps
Spent the month of April working out of the Yankees bullpen but injuries opened the door for him to join the rotation and he has taken advantage of it.
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